


A Twist of Fate

by OurUnsungHeroes42344



Category: Castle
Genre: F/M, Gen, Magic, New York City, San Francisco, Washington D.C.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 23:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8347396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OurUnsungHeroes42344/pseuds/OurUnsungHeroes42344
Summary: One case can change everything. And with a twist of fate everything changes again. Kevin Ryan centric





	1. The Change

The last day of Detective Kevin Ryan's life didn't start out the greatest. It started by waking up with a slight hangover and a sore back on the couch. What lead him to that very bad night of sleep? A double homicide case, a really late, really crazy Madden Night with Javier and an argument with his wife.

Jenny had blown up at him the night before because she hadn't seen him all week because of the case and he'd spent the night they'd solved the case at Javier's only to come home early Sunday morning drunk.

They'd both yelled things they probably didn't mostly mean and it had ended with Jenny yelling that she was tired of coming in second. Then she'd slammed and locked the bedroom door in his face. He'd slept on the couch after drowning his sorrows with a few shots of irish whiskey.

Jenny was already awake by the time he got out of the shower and gelled back his hair. He pulls on Jenny's favorite three piece suit and his favorite matching tie, which happened to be a tie Javier got him for their 1st year anniversary of being partners.

Ryan walks into the kitchen and to where his wife is making herself breakfast at the stove. Ryan walks up behind her and leans in to give her a kiss on the cheek from behind. Jenny leans away from him, refusing to look at him or talk to him.

Ryan's heart breaks a little and he walks out the front door, trying to keep his tears at bay.

Despite not staying very long at his house he arrives at the 12th rather late and he trudges to his desk, dropping into his seat with a huff.

Castle's quip about getting lucky dies in his throat. Ryan reluctantly lifts his head and scans the murder board, they'd caught a case already. 

"Uh, Ryan?" Beckett says.

Ryan focuses his blurry gaze on her. "Yeah, Beckett? Sorry I missed meeting up at the crime scene."

"Actually I was going to ask you if you're okay? Because-."

"Because you clearly look like someone took your lucky charms," interrupts and finishes Castle.

Esposito punches him in the shoulder, hard. Castle protests and rubs his shoulder, flashing Ryan a weak, apologetic smile.

"No, I'm fine. Just didn't sleep well last night. Oh, and Castle, leprechaun joke not appreciated."

"How's about I go get you some coffee," says Castle, hurrying away from Esposito's glowering stare.

Momentarily free of Castle's distracting theories, Beckett turns to face the murder board again. Ryan leans back heavily in his chair, groaning as he stretches out his sore back. 

"What did you sleep on the couch last night or something," asks Esposito, sitting on the corner of Ryan's desk.

Ryan sighs. "As a matter of fact, yes I did, but I really don't want to talk about it."

"Woah, woah. Hold up. I'm gonna stop you right there," says Esposito in a disbelieving tone as Castle comes back and Beckett turns back towards him. "You slept on the couch-."

"Because you and Jenny got into a fight?" Beckett finishes and Castle scoffs.

"You two are so whipped, the rest of us can barely stand it? If she put you out on the couch you must've done something major," agrees Castle.

"It was nothing! Why can't you guys just leave it alone?!" Ryan yells back, losing his temper.

His uncharacteristically violent reaction shocks the others into silence and Esposito slowly inches off Ryan's desk.

Ryan bows his head regretfully, shame coloring his cheeks. "I'm sorry guys, I shouldn't have lost it like that. You were only trying to help. I just keep making one major league screw up after another. That's why Jenny and I got into a fight. I haven't had much time for her because of that insane case and as you guys know the night we solved the case we went out for drinks and then I went over to Javier's and we ended up playing Madden all night. When I went home it was like 5 in the morning and I was still rather drunk. And we wound up fighting last night after I spent most of Sunday sleeping off my hangover. I tried to give her a kiss this morning when I left but she didn't let me. I don't know what I was thinking," he puts his head in his hands for a moment.

Esposito places a hand on his partner's shoulder and gives him a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry, bro. She'll get over it eventually. I can't help but feel partially responsible, I pushed you for that rematch."

Kevin lifts his head up and smiles gratefully at his partner. "It's okay. Thanks, bro." Clearing his throat he looks at the murder board," so, caught a case."

"Yeah, let me fill you in...." Esposito tells him about the murdered girl they'd found in the alley by the name of Ashley and how her mother said their was an ex boyfriend she didn't like. "We're tracking the ex now and waiting for ballistics on the bullets that killed her."

Beckett's phone rings and she walks quickly to her desk. "Beckett.....Thanks Lanie," she hangs the phone up and returns to the murder board, adding the new information. "We just got ballistics, bullets were from a 9 millimeter."

Esposito's computer beeps and he turns his monitor towards the rest of them. "I just got a hit on the ex, he got picked up a while ago for a possession charge, officers found a loaded 9 millimeter on him. He just got out last week."

"Let's go pick his ass up, got an address?"

Esposito finishes writing down something on a sticky note and pulls it up. "Yep, let's roll."

A little while later finds the four of them at the address registered to the ex, Aaron Mills.

Beckett and Castle head into the apartment complex to see if they can confirm he's home. Ryan and Esposito start out back to cover them, just in case.

 _"He's headed your way! Down the fire escape!_ Beckett's voice emanates from the walkie talkie clipped to Esposito's belt.

Ryan reacts first, racing down the alley. As he turns a corner he hears the clattering of footsteps on the fire escape above him and pushes harder, faster, run.

What happens next seems to happen in the blink of an eye, but in slow motion as well. Esposito is a few feet behind Ryan and is helpless to do anything as the scene unfolds before him.

The guy jumps off the fire escape and lands on his feet, spinning towards them a second before Ryan slams into him. They hit the ground together.

Ryan turns a corner and out of Esposito's sight. He hears a thud and then a grunt.

 **BANG!** The sound of the gunshot echoes through the alley and Esposito falters, freezing in his tracks. 

He turns the corner in time to catch Aaron Mills, who is too late to backpedal and slams right into his arm. 

Esposito follows Mills down and cuffs his arms behind his back just as Beckett and Castle arrive.

Esposito half runs, half scrambles back the way Mills had come from, because there lying too still in the middle of a puddle tinged red with blood is his partner.

Esposito falls to his knees in the puddle besides Ryan's head and lifts his partner's head onto his lap. Ryan's hands are clutching feebly at a gaping wound in his stomach. Esposito grabs one of Ryan's hands in his and uses the other to try and stop the crimson tide of blood.

"You know, you're supposed to wear that red stuff on the inside," he says, his voice thick with tears.

Kevin chuckles weakly. "Did you see me take him down? He was just like and then I was like, BOOM!"

Javier can't help but laugh a little. "Yeah, you sure got him Kev. Now, how's about you shut up and let me apply pressure to this new hole you've got?"

Kevin puts his free hand on Javier's and tries to push it away. "Don't do this to yourself, Javi. We both know I'm not going to-,"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Kevin Ryan!" Javier snaps.

Kevin coughs and a little blood dribbles down his chin. "Javi, stop. You have to promise me something."

Javier shakes his head and looks away from Kevin's pleading blue gaze. "Stop talking like a dead man."

"Javier Esposito, look at me dammit!" Kevin's voice breaks and the first tear runs down his paling cheek. 

Javier takes a deep breath and turns back to face his dying partner. "Thank you. Now, I need you to promise me that you'll tell Jenny I love her and give her the two letters in the top drawer of my desk. I'm not asking you to marry her or date her or anything, I'm just asking you to make sure she's alright. You also have to promise me you won't do anything stupid, because I won't be here to clean up after you," he turns his gaze to somewhere just over Javier's shoulder. Javier doesn't look but he knows Castle, Beckett and Mills are somewhere just behind him. "Kate, you're going to catch your mother's killer. Don't lock yourself away again. You know where your heart lies, stop fighting it. Castle, do me a favor and just be yourself, keep driving Beckett crazy and spewing crazy theories. And, don't kill Raley off in your next book, keep the bromance alive, even if it's only on paper," he turns back to Javier, the last few minutes of his life dedicated to his partner. "J-Javi, you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I-I know how you were when we first met, don't shut yourself out to the idea of another partner, I need to know someone will have your back. I-I will always be with y-you, until the wheels f-fall off. I-I love y-you, J-Ja-"

Kevin takes a shallow, stuttering breath, the "vi" slipping off his lips as he releases one last breath before his chest stills forever, the hand holding Javier's falling into the blood that surrounds him.

Javier brings his head down on his partner's still chest and cries.

"Aaron Mills you are under arrest for the murder of NYPD Homicide Detective Kevin Ryan. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..." 


	2. The Twist

Javier trudges into his apartment a few hours after they'd laid Kevin to rest. He goes into his bedroom, strips out of his dress blues and then showers. 

He emerges about 15 minutes later dressed in casual clothes. He pulls out two beers and plops on the couch. 

The phone besides him on the end table rings and he picks it up reluctantly. "Esposito."

_"Hey, it's Seeley."_

Esposito groans inwardly, he really doesn’t want to talk to anyone. "Hey, look, I'm not trying to be rude, but I really don't feel like talking right now. I'm going through some shit, I might quit my job here soon."

_"I heard about Kevin. I'm sorry, man. But, you might want to hear me out."_

Esposito sighs. "What is it?"

_"You said you might quit your job. I'm guessing to get away from the memories, right?"_

"Yeah, so?"

_"So, how about coming to D.C, work with me here at the FBI?"_

Javier sits up straighter. "Huh? You're offering me a job, can you do that?"

_"Just did, but it's a limited time offer."_

"You know what, I think that that sounds like a plan," he needed a change and here’s the perfect opportunity.

_"When can you start?"_

"A week or so?"

_"Sure. I’ll make the arrangements and I'll meet you at the airport next Monday."_

"Thanks man, bye."

_"Bye."_

Javier hangs up the phone and sits back thinking about how quickly his life had just changed. He picks up a picture off the coffee table besides the couch and stares at the picture of him and his partner, smiling to himself wistfully. “Even now you’re still changing my life in ways I never expected.”

 

He sits up surrounded by white. "Am I in heaven?” He must be dead after all.

Before his question can be answered however, several columns of blue lights form in a circle around him. They form into people wearing gold robes, both men and women of all different ages, the youngest, a boy who looks no older than 15.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"We are The Elders and we have come to you with a proposal. You've lived a life of sacrifice. You died as you lived, fighting the evil in your city, protecting the ones you love. We have come to offer you a chance to continue the fight against evil on a much larger scale. If you accept we will gift you with a new life, a new identity and a new purpose." They tell him, speaking as one.

"What? How is that possible? Where did you come from?"

"Magic is real. We are Elder whitelighters."

"What? Magic? What the hell is a whitelighter?"

"Whitelighters are guardian angels for witches and future whitelighters who might lose their way. They are immortal to a certain extent and have several other powers. We cannot force your decision but, if you choose this life the rewards will be great but, also the sacrifice."

His mind spins due to the information overload and the impossible choice before him. He pictures the faces of the ones he loves and the decision makes itself. "Yes, I'll become a white whatever."

"Whitelighter. Welcome to your new destiny. Your new life. From now on you will be known as Mitchell Haines and you will live in San Francisco. Now, as it happens a special case has recently popped up in San Francisco, so unlike normal whitelighters you will only have a few local charges besides your main charge. Right now we're creating a new identity for you, getting you a place to live and a position as a member of the SFPD. We will be in contact with you soon to help you learn and prepare you before you start at your job and with your charges."

Before Kevin can ask about the name change, the fact he's on the opposite side of the country as his loved ones and if he can see them soon The Elders fade away and he feels like he's falling, then nothing.

It’s the noise that wakes him. Kevin opens his eyes to find he’s seated in a modest apartment. The next thing that registers is how alive he feels.

Being dead he’d felt so detached from everything, he couldn’t really feel the rest of his body, he was absolutely still. But, now he can feel every inch of his body moving and working in harmony.

His eyes sweep around the room and land on a boy sitting in a chair at the dining room table. He recognizes him from the circle of Elders, he’d met just a little bit ago.

“Good, you’re awake,” the boy says.

“Where am I? Hell, when am I?”

“San Francisco, California. Exactly one year to the day that you died.”

“What? I just died a week ago! How long have I been asleep?”

“You’ve been frozen in time for just under a year while we worked to prepare you a new life as well as your body. Over the next month I’m going to train you for your new life, at night you will slowly receive key events and information about the year you missed in your dreams,” he explains.

“Ookay… what about my family?”

“They believe you’re dead. You will live a thousand lifetimes after they have all been long dead and you will continue to live on. Making contact with them will only cause heartache for you and them. As whitelighters we watch over both the magical and mortal world, but from afar. We cannot let our past lives interfere with our current work, in the beginning it will be hard, but as time goes on it will get easier, I promise. If you’d like I can give you an update on your family, but I urge you not to attempt to make contact.”

“I understand, I guess. And, yes I’d like that, thank you,” he replies surprisingly calm.

“2 weeks after your death Javier Esposito resigned from the 12th and moved to Washington D.C, to work with his ex-army buddy Seeley Booth, with the FBI. Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett as well as most of the people you left behind in New York still remain mostly unchanged with a few exceptions. Losing both you and your former partner brought Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett together, he recently proposed. Your former Captain Roy Montgomery passed a few months after your death, killed in connection to the murder of Johanna Beckett. And last we heard of your fiance Jennifer O’Malley was still in New York. It’s best to put them to the back of your mind now. You’re not Kevin Ryan anymore, you’re Mitchell Haines. Now, get some rest, training starts tomorrow.”

“Wait, what’s your name?”

“Kevin,” the boy says with a smile before he disappears in a column of bright blue lights.


End file.
